Leer feeding apparatus



April 2,1935. 4 NRBECK 1,996,535

LEER FEEDING APPARATUS Filed April 17, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet l April 2, 1935.

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LEER FEEDING APPARATUS Filed April 17, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 2, 1935 PATENT; 1

LEER FEEDING ArrAnsTUs',

Norman R. Beck; Baltimore, iassignori to, Q

Carr-Lowrey Glass 00., Baltimore, Md.,

Application April 17 1933, serial neicsasvo 1 claim: (01. 19 -45) This invention relates to. apparatus designed primarily for conveying small bottles and the like from their points of formation to a small leer commonly known as a peanut roaster to those skilledin the art. 1

Heretofore it has been the practice to-place small bottles on pans,-place the pans by hand at the inlet of the roaster and thereafter remove them following the necessary annealing opera- ,tion. This has required the services of two or more persons which has added considerably to the cost of producing small bottles.

It is an object of the present invention to-provide a simple and efiicient equipment which can be set up readily and which can be handled by a single person, said equipment serving to collect the formed bottles from difierent stations and deliver them to trays which are brought successively into proper positionto receive the bottles as they are moved automatically into the roaster.

It is a further object to provide a means whereby the bottles will be spread uniformly over the bottom of the tray as said tray is fed' into the roaster.

A still further object is to provide an apparatus of this type which is automatic in operation and requires the services of only one, person who places the trays in position prior to being filled and subsequently removes the trays with the annealed glassware from the outletend of the roaster.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus, some of the parts being broken away.

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3, Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4, Figure 1, a portion of the roaster being shown in elevation.

Figure 5 is an elevation of a portion of the opposite side of the roaster showing a part of the drive provided for the pan conveyor.

Figure 6 is an enlarged section on line 66, Figure 1.

Figure 7 is an enlarged section on line 1-1,

Figure 1, the; conveyorroll and adjacent portion of its drive-beingshown in elevation.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference :l designates an endless conveyor belt which can be formed of. asbestos fabric and this 5 belt is mounted-enrolls? and} which, in turn, ,aresuitably supported, as by the legs 4 of a table the top 5 of which is extended under and parallel with the upper flight of. the belt so as to constitutea support therefor. The sides of the upper 10 flight are preferably extended under guide strips 6 suitably supported on the table. andcooperating toform a channel-L along which bottles or the like canbe conveyed by the upper flight of the belt.v .Y a I Theconveylng belt can be of any desired length and is adaptedto receiveformed bottles orother glass articles at different stations adjacent thereto, anysuitable means, such, as chutes 8, being provided for directing the formed articles onto the belt Adjacent to one end of the belt there is provided a delivering spout 9 which is mounted to swing atjitsupper end about a depending stud .lll supported beneath table top 5. This spout is inclined. downwardly toward its free end and preferably tapered. It can be mounted to slide on a guide finger H and obviouslyisfree to oscillate relative to the table, it being understood that at all times during such oscillation the upper end of thespo-ut is in position to receive material from the upper flight. of v the conveyor .belt l. 1 j v One of theguide -strips 6 is cut away above the receiving end of spout 9 so as to provide an outlet l2 through which articles can be delivered into the spout and in order that conveyed articles may be directed properly through this outlet [2, a deflecting strip I3 of any desired contour is extended across the upper flight of the belt i from one side strip 6 to the other, this deflector being disposed at such an angle that articles drawn thereagainst will be delivered through outlet l2.

A small leer or peanut roaster i4 is positioned with its inlet 15 adjacent to the delivery end of spout 9. This roaster, which is of a type well-known in the art, is provided with guide rails l6 extending outwardly from the outlet i5. Working between these rails are parallel endless chains I! which can be provided at suitable intervals with pan engaging devices. For example, and as shown in the drawings, cross cleats can be secured on the chains so as toextend transversely therebetween and travel therewith. These cleats can be so spaced as to receive between them pans IS in which the glass articles are to be conveyed into the roaster l4. These pans can travel on the rails l6 and can be positioned readily by an attendant at the inlet end of the roaster.

The chains I! are carried by sprockets 20 on a drive shaft 2| and by sprockets 22 on a transverse shaft 23.

The drive shaft 2| can be rotated at will by means of a hand wheel 2| or the like but ordinarily this shaft will be actuated intermittently at a desired speed by special mechanism provided for that purpose. a ratchet wheel 24 secured to the shaft, 2| and normally engaged by a pawl 25. This'pawl is carried by one end of a leverr26i which .is ful crumed on shaft 2|. The other end of-this lever' is adjustably engaged by apitman 21 which receives motion through a crank 28 "from a shaft 29. A large gear 30 is secured to this shaft and is adapted to be driven by a small gear 3| on the shaft of a motor 32'. it will be seen that during the operation of the motor the lever 26 will be oscillated and pawl 25 will'be caused to rotate shaft 24 intermittently in one direction. Obviously should it be desiredto feed the pans l9 into the roaster l4 more rapidly than is possible with the mechanism described, all that would be necessary would beto rotate the hand wheel 2| in the proper direction. This would cause the teeth of the ratchetwheel to slip under the pawl so that this manual actuation would not be interfered with by the power mechanism.

The conveyor belt I is adapted to be driven continuously by any mechanism-desired For example a sprocket 33 can be secured to the shaft 34 of roll 2, this sprocket receiving motion through a chain 35 from a'smaller sprocket 36 secured to a shaft 31. This shaft is provided with a gear 38 adapted to be driven by a'smaller gear 39 on the shaft of a motor '40. Acrank arm 4| is carried by one end of shaft 31- and'is connected by a pitman 42 to the intermediate portion of a lever 43. This lever is extended upwardly from one end of a rock shaft 44 journalled'ina suitable bearing 45 and another lever'46'is extended from the shaft and is connected by; a rod 41 to the spout 9; The pivot-bolt 48 used for connecting rod 41 to lever 46 can be adjustable within a longitudinal slot 49 in lever 46 so that the extent of movement of spout 9' during the oscillation of lever 46 can be regulated. 1

In practice thesmall bottles or other glass ar- This mechanism can include delivered through the chutes 8 onto the upper flight of the belt I which is travelling in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1. As these articles reach the deflector l3 they are directed into the spout 9. The outlet end of this spout overhangs a pan I9 which has been placed on the chains I! by an attendant. As the back wall of the pan is engaged by a cleat [8 the pan will be fed slowly along rails l6 through outlet-l5 and into the roaster. This movement ordinarily will be intermittent and slow, due to the action of the pawl 25 on ratchet wheel 24. As the pan advances the chute 9 is slowly swung from side to' side by'its rod 41 and the mechanism operating it. Thus the articles being delivered from the spout will be. spread over the pan from side to side and as the pan is advanced intermittently it will ultimately be delivered into the roaster .with the articles distributed evenly over the bottom of the pan. As each pan passes from under the outletrend of spout 9. another empty pan which has been placed in position back of it, be brought to'a point where it can receive the delivered articles.

One attendant will have ample opportunity not only to place pans at the feeding end of the apparatus but also to remove the filled pans from theoutlet end of the roaster.

The two driving mechanisms can be so timed that lateral swinging of the spout 9 can take place during pauses between the movements of the pan. This will prevent delivered articles from piling upon each other in the pan.

While this apparatus is. designed primarily for use with small leers or peanut roasters it will be understood that under some conditions it might be found advantageous to use it in connection with larger leers and in handling large bottles or other glass containers.

What is claimed is:

In leer feeding apparatus an endless conveyor having a side outlet, means for supplying bottles to the conveyor, a stationary deflector overlying the conveyor adjacent to the outlet for deflecting the bottles from the conveyor through the outlet, a chute for receiving bottles from the outlet, a motor for driving the conveyor, means driven by the motor for oscillating the chute laterally in timed relation to the speed of the conveyor, said means being adjustable to vary the sweep of the chute, and independently movable conveying -means for receiving bottles from the chute. ticles being produced at different stations are NORMAN R. BECK; 

